In Search Of A Home

Monday, July 20, 2015

For the past 2 months we have been in search of a home. The house we currently live in belongs to someone else and we are renting it until we find our own. This house is very nice, but way too large for us and the ceilings in the main living area are approximately 25 feet high. It has a "catwalk" that overlooks the living room and entry area. I get dizzy and a nosebleed every time I look over the railing.Also, do you know how long an air conditioning system runs trying to cool the ceilings of this house? And did you know that cool air never falls all the way down to the sofa where the woman who experiences menopause hot flashes 72 hours out of every day sits?

If we owned this house, I would never be able to paint the walls. Twenty-five feet high equals 5 of me standing on someone's shoulders 5 times to reach the very top to trim out the walls and paint the ceiling. My rule is if I can't stand on a 3-foot ladder to paint the top of a wall or a ceiling, then the house is out for me. The hubby's rule is that he is not living in a hobbit's house just so that I can paint a wall or ceiling. As you can see, house hunting has been a little challenging.Before I show you photos of what we have finally settled on here in Tennessee, I thought I would show you a few pics of our previous homes. I apologize for the horrible photos, but I never planned on anyone but us seeing them and I snapped them quickly while we were moving out.Prior to moving to Tennessee, we lived in a loft in downtown Dallas.

The building was awesome. It was the old Sears warehouse and had all of the battle scars that a normal 100-year-old building would have. It is located across the street from the Dallas Police Department (which still didn't deter a murderer 1 block over) and 2 blocks away from Gilley's. This was the first time that I had ever lived in an apartment. I loved it!! We were on the 5th floor of a 10 floor building and our unit included 15-foot ceilings, a brick wall and huge columns. We had a totally open floor plan.

Our bedroom did not have a door, nor did our bedroom closet.

There was a door for the restroom, but the bathroom sink was at the opening of the bedroom closet. We did have a nice sitting area at the end of the bedroom space.

A staircase had been located here at one time. The impression was still on the walls.

I loved this brick wall. We were one of the few apartments that had a brick wall.

And yes, I stood on a shaky ladder, much to the hubster's chagrin, to paint the walls in this guest bedroom while he was away. A previous tenant added a half-wall with a door for his guests.

Our kitchen was galley-style but had lots of storage space. The hubster made the hanging lights out of lampshades. That rack that the skillets are hanging on was one of my favorite things. It is tucked in the closet waiting for a new home. :-)

Downstairs included an artist's quarters, an art gallery, a small grocery store, a dry cleaners, and a coffee shop. We had gated, covered parking. Covered parking is a must in Texas because of all the hail storms.There was an eclectic mix of people living in the space, with quite a few being in the entertainment business. Several episodes of the new show "Dallas" were shot in our apartment building. We imagined J.R. being shot in our kitchen! :-) He might have even slept in our guest bed if our guest bed had been in the loft at the time. ;-)We didn't live there long enough for me to finish decorating because "Rocky Top" was calling our name.Hope you enjoyed the loft mini-tour. Tomorrow I will show you the "fixer upper" we lived in before the loft!

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26 comments

Loved your old place in Dallas. How sweet to have that exposed brick. Love that. I know it is exciting to be looking for a place to call your own. Can't wait to see what you find. Have a great week.Kris

Benita, we loved seeing these pictures, my husband and I, as he's a Dallas boy! And once you're from Dallas you're always from Dallas.

I can understand your excitement about living in this beautiful loft space. It had character and charm and must have been a dream to live in, having such an uncluttered look. I know our two younger sons have the goal of living in a loft someday.

Thank you for this house tour and any future ones because we all love to peek into houses!

Thank you so much Dewena! I miss Dallas so much and you are definitely correct about being from Dallas. Even though I'm not from Texas, I feel like it will always be a part of me. We will eventually move back. There was so much history in this building. The wood floors were the original pine planks. We wanted to find one here in Nashville, but the smaller size compared to cost just wouldn't work for us.

Thank you so much for following along with me. We have definitely been on a journey! I love looking in houses also...maybe that's why the house hunt has taken so long! ;-)

Thank you so much Kim! There were so many things I wanted to do here, but just never got finished before we had to move. :-( The possibilities were endless and it was such a cool space to work with. I loved that we could open the windows and not worry about the loft being filled with mosquitoes or gnats. :-)

Thank you so much Stephanie! We loved it also and were heart-broken when we had to leave to open the new office in TN. The building was so cool. It had a pool on top and a place to grill out. Wish we could have found something like that here in TN!

Benita, that loft looks like a really unique space for living. I can't imagine anyone (other than a man) designing a home today with 25' ceilings. That's just crazy on so many levels. I hope you soon get lucky and find "the one". I would imagine it would be hard to be patient while waiting for the right one at the right price.

Rita, we loved that loft and it was unique. The building had over 100 different floor plans. I can’t even find that many different ones for houses…LOL. And yes, the 25’ ceilings are totally crazy! Thank you so much! We’ve finally found a house so I will definitely be posting about it soon! :-)

AnnMarie, I absolutely loved it! Our power bill and water bill combined was always less than $100.00. Trash pickup was $5.00/month and maintenance was free. The space was a little over 2,000 sq. ft., so it wasn’t tiny, but just the right size for us. I’m a city girl, the hubster likes a yard and outdoor space. We have been trading back and forth…LOL

Wow. That's some loft. I love old buildings, especially when they've been repurposed into something new and beautiful and inspiring, without losing their history. No wonder you don't like your current house; that loft is a hard act to follow...

Hi Benita, we have the same loft, except I think ours isn't that high. I love to be able to call the kids down to dinner without having to climb the stairs. The loft really does have that Wow effect! =) hugs, Christine